


Drowning in You

by xiaoquexing (MJLightwood)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Basketball Player Jongin, ChanBaek - Freeform, Falling In Love, M/M, Swimmer Sehun, just a bit I couldn't resist, they're both idiots someone save them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 02:34:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17337059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MJLightwood/pseuds/xiaoquexing
Summary: Jongin is scared of some things, much like any other human. But mostly he’s scared of water. Deep water like pools and the sea and aquariums. More accurately, he’s scared of drowning.He was especially scared of drowning in Sehun and drowning in his feelings for Sehun.ORSehun is the pride of the college's swim team and Jongin is their college's golden basketball player.





	Drowning in You

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I thought I was the only one here,” a voice from behind Sehun squeaks. Sehun’s eyes widen in realization as he hurriedly wraps the towel that he’d lazily draped over his shoulders around his waist. He’s more than surprised, and rightfully so. Sehun is normally the only one using the showers beside the pool at this time, choosing to stay back after usual swim practices to get more laps in.

Sehun turns around to meet his intruder and is pleasantly surprised to say the least. His intruder is visibly red in the cheeks, eyes wide in shock. The water droplets falling from the other boy’s hair suggests that he had just walked out of the showers himself.

He’s also Kim Jongin, from the college’s overly successful basketball team (Not that Sehun is jealous, the swim team has won just as many competitions, thank you very much), a star among students and a total heartthrob.

Sehun wouldn’t have been very honest if he said that his heart didn’t do a little flip.

Maybe a few cartwheels, but hey, Jongin was called a heartthrob for a reason, alright?

“It’s alright, I thought I was the only one here too,” Sehun says. A smile naturally makes its way onto his face. “I’m Oh Sehun.”

“Yeah, I know you. You won a lot of medals last year didn’t you?” Jongin says with a charming smile. Sehun feels his heart swell with pride. “I’m Kim Jongin.”

“I know you too, our golden boy who scored a three-point-shot in the last game,” Sehun tells him, the slightest hint of mischief in his voice, which earns him a slightly embarrassed laugh from Jongin.

And god, if Sehun thought that Jongin’s smile was charming, his laugh was truly something else. Sehun’s heart does multiple backflips at the way Jongin’s eyes crinkle when he laughs.

Oh, he’s so screwed.

 

-

 

Eventually, running into each other at the showers becomes a constant occurrence. A routine, even. Jongin explains that his teammates take way too long in the showers beside the basketball court, that’s why he comes to the showers beside the pool so often.

Jongin knows deep down in his heart that there’s a certain swimmer that keeps tempting him to come back, in hopes that he’ll see him again, even though the pool is quite a distance away from the basketball court. A certain swimmer with his sarcastic yet funny comments and stupid airy laugh.

Conversation flows easily between the two of them, often talking about their own respective sport, even though they’re both vastly different. It’s been barely a month since they had first met in person, but there’s a certain chemistry between them that Jongin can’t quite explain. He talks to Sehun like he’s known him all his life. Sehun is comfortable, even the silence between them at times is comfortable. Sehun’s gaze is warm, but also electrifying.

Oh Sehun is something Jongin doesn’t quite understand, but also someone he feels like he’s known all his life. And Jongin isn’t sure how such a paradox can exist, but it’s right here in front of him.

To be honest, Jongin is terrified, terrified by the electricity between them. Terrified by how comfortable he feels in Sehun's presence. 

But Sehun smiles, with a warmth that reaches his normally cold eyes, and Jongin forgets what he was so scared of in the first place as he smiles back.

 

-

 

Sehun finds Jongin with earphones in his ear once when he walks out of his shower. Once he’s dressed he takes a seat on the bench next to Jongin. The other boy looks up and with a shrug, he offers one side of the earphone to Sehun, explaining that he was planning to choreograph something to the song he was listening to.

“You dance too? That’s amazing,” Sehun says in awe, accepting the earphone from Jongin.

Sehun tries to focus on the song, it works for about ten peaceful seconds. He tries not to think about the way their thighs were touching as they sat on the bench listening to Jongin’s music, tries not to think about the way Jongin’s shoulder was bumping into his. It’s suffocating, sitting next to Jongin, but not in a bad way. It was as though Jongin was stealing the air from his lungs.

There was no reason for them to sit that close to each other, but there was even less reason for Sehun to fall for Jongin. They were just friends. Heck, he didn’t even know if Jongin liked boys, what if he didn’t?

But he knew that Jongin was a good friend, and Sehun hadn’t found someone whom he clicked with so well in so long.

It was no surprise when Jongin would continue to regularly show him songs that he was planning to dance to, sometimes their thighs touching and sometimes their shoulders, but each time was just as suffocating as the next. It turned into some sort of routine for them, a routine that Sehun started to look forward to.

It was no surprise when Sehun lay awake one night in his shared room with Baekhyun, watching the fan spin above him as he realized with a sinking feeling in his heart that he really _really_ liked Jongin.

 

-

 

“Will you come to see the game?” Jongin asks when they’re both drying their hair.

“I will if you come see me on Sunday,” Sehun replies with a playful smile, but his heart is beating a million miles per minute in anticipation.

It’s been months since they started talking, and Jongin was the first to realize that they had never actually seen each other at their own respective sport. And so Jongin had invited him to his basketball match on Friday night.

“Deal,” Jongin says with a bright smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says as he picks up one of the black jackets on the bench and leaves.

Sehun takes his own time to get dressed, working out the ache in his muscles before picking up his own jacket and leaving.

He’s greeted with a lot of weird looks when he wears that jacket on Friday morning to class. He choose to ignore them until Baekhyun pipes up from beside him once they’ve settled down in the lecture hall.

“Look, I’ve been wondering why everyone’s been looking at you all day, but why does your jacket say ‘Kim Jongin, basketball’?”

Sehun’s eyes widen in realization as he removes the jacket and takes a look. Sure enough, Jongin’s name is staring back at him, along with the name of a sport that clearly isn’t his.

“So do you want to explain why you have Kim Jongin’s jacket?” Baekhyun asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

“It’s- it’s not like that,” Sehun stammers. “I must have taken it by accident in the showers, fuck.”

_Showers?_   Baekhyun’s mind is spinning with wild ideas, but currently he’s just enjoying Sehun suffering in front of him. Baekhyun watches amusedly as Sehun fumbles to take his phone out, flipping through his contacts before he lets out a groan.

Sehun absolutely cannot believe that he doesn’t have Jongin’s number.

Baekhyun sees Sehun drop his head into his arms (and Jongin’s jacket) in distress. He’s clutching the jacket like it’s his lifeline. With a sigh, he snaps his fingers in front of Sehun’s distressed lump having a crisis on their table.

“Earth to Sehun, it’s just a jacket get over yourself.”

He hears Sehun mumble something incomprehensible into the lump of black that is Jongin’s jacket. “What?” Baekhyun asks, none too kindly.

“I don’t have his number,” Sehun repeats miserably, face emerging from his jacket cocoon.

Baekhyun would laugh, except that would be mean and Sehun did seem really distressed. Baekhyun did pride himself on being a good friend after all. “Chanyeol has a game tonight, which means Jongin has one too. Just return it to him then,” Baekhyun suggests.

Sehun, still a black lump, mumbles in response. Baekhyun takes it as Sehun thanking him.

“And get his fucking number, Oh Sehun you idiot.”

 

-

 

Sehun walks into the basketball court that night, Jongin’s jacket draped over his arm. Baekhyun leaves him to fend for himself the moment he spots Chanyeol. Sehun spots Baekhyun giving Chanyeol a full on kiss on the lips out of the corner of his eye, successfully surprising the giant. He would roll his eyes except he’s pretty much used to it by now and he’s got more pressing matters to worry about.

Jongin sees him first, smiling as he approaches a very lost Sehun. “Hey, I think I took your jacket by accident,” Jongin says when he meets Sehun.

“Everyone was staring at me when I wore it this morning, I didn’t even realize it was yours,” Jongin continues with a laugh, returning Sehun’s black jacket to its original owner.

After the transaction of jackets, Sehun feels a lot more at ease, despite his heart beating out of his chest at the sight of Jongin’s bare arms in his basketball jersey.

_Those biceps should be illegal,_ Sehun thinks bitterly.

“I realized that we don’t have each other’s number,” he says out loud instead, offering his phone to Jongin. Jongin’s eyes widen comically before keying in his number in Sehun’s phone.

“I honestly never realized. I think it just never occurred to us,” Jongin says, returning the phone to Sehun.

“It’s alright,” Sehun replies with a smile. “Good luck,” he adds as an afterthought. Jongin shoots him a smile before heading off to join the rest of his team. Sehun watches him go with what he’s sure is stars in his own eyes.

Sehun looks down at his phone and sees that Jongin has saved his number as “Golden Boy” with a wink face.

Sehun promptly melts, unable to control the gigantic smile creeping onto his face.

 

-

 

Sehun spots Jongin in the seats just before he pulls his swimming goggles over his eyes. Jongin gives him a smile and a thumbs up, Sehun nods in his direction, a newfound energy coursing through him.

They’ve talked even more over the past day, now that they both have each other’s number, their conversations have extended beyond the showers. Jongin sends him jokes throughout the day, sometimes even stories about his team member’s stupidity. And Sehun tries to react appropriately, sometimes offering stories of Baekhyun’s craziness.

When Sehun finally climbs out of the pool, it’s with at least three gold medals secured under his belt. Jongin goes to congratulate him in the showers just before the awards ceremony.

“Are you sure you’re not secretly a mermaid or something?” Jongin asks him the moment he steps into the showers.

Sehun rolls his eyes. “I promise I’m human.”

Jongin narrows his eyes, “I have a theory that you’re actually Nemo,” he says with a serious voice, successfully making Sehun burst into laughter.

“No comment,” Sehun replies when he’s finally stopped laughing.

“I’m kinda amazed though,” Jongin starts thoughtfully.

“Why?”

“I can’t swim,” Jongin says. He sounds embarrassed, scratching the back of his neck with a shy smile. Sehun is honestly a little surprised, but he jumps at the opportunity Jongin has offered him.

“I can teach you!” Sehun suggests. Later, he chides himself for being a bit too enthusiastic. But for now he’s beaming at Jongin. Jongin looks up at him with surprised eyes. “When are you free? I’ll see when the pool’s empty, I can teach you then!”

Jongin smiles his eye crinkling smile that Sehun loves so much. “I’ll text you,” he says simply. “Now go out and get your medals, Nemo.”

 

-

 

“You really weren’t kidding when you said that you were scared of the water,” Sehun says as he tries to coax Jongin to enter the deeper side of the pool.

It’s dark, the glass roof over the pool allowing little moonlight to illuminate the area. Sehun hates the sharp white artificial lights beside the pool so he opts to turn most of them off.

Jongin has a death grip on Sehun’s arms that Sehun tries infinitely hard not to think about.

_It’s because he’s scared,_ Sehun reasons.

“Just trust me,” Sehun says, trying to keep both him and Jongin afloat in the 2 meter deep pool. At least Jongin has stopped writhing now. “Lie down,” he tells Jongin.

“What?” Jongin asks, his voice cracking. Sehun feels a little bad for him, he really sounded so scared. But Sehun manages to convince Jongin into lying back on the surface of the water. He keeps his hands under Jongin’s back, keeping Jongin afloat with his strength.

“Just relax, Jongin,” Sehun says gently, feeling how tense Jongin’s muscles are. “I’m going to teach you how to float okay?”

“Okay,” Jongin says, his voice barely above a whisper. His iron grip on Sehun’s bicep is gradually loosening, hands slowly coming to rest on the water beside him.

Sehun tries letting one of his hands drop from behind Jongin, but it doesn’t go well because the moment it leaves Jongin’s body, Jongin’s closed eyes shoot open and he flails around, grabbing Sehun in panic.

Sehun calms Jongin down again with whispers and gentle words. “I’m sorry I’m so scared,” Jongin apologizes, clinging onto Sehun’s arms like his lifeline. He lets out a forced laugh, “Kinda shocking isn’t it? Your golden boy scared of some water?”

Sehun shakes his head. “It’s alright, we’re all scared of something. Just try again?”

Slowly, Jongin nods, lying back down again.

“Relax, Jongin,” Sehun says. He sees Jongin’s eyes flutter shut, but his muscles are still tense, his shoulders still too tight.

The stupidest idea pops into Sehun’s head. Sehun tries to shake it away, but it won’t leave, and Jongin looks way too tempting.

Sehun lets his heart run free, pushing the very rational fears out of his head. It’s as though he doesn’t know how to control his body anymore as he leans forward, eyes on Jongin’s pink lips.

“Relax,” Sehun whispers, lips a breadth away from Jongin’s. Sehun finds that he’s trembling, Jongin is probably too scared to realize. Fear grips his body and his thoughts suddenly. What if he’s been reading this all wrong? The text messages, the late night conversations, the quips exchanged in the bathroom, the dancing, the music, the nicknames.

_Is it too much to hope?_ Sehun thinks.

Small memories flash through his mind. Jongin’s thigh against his, Jongin’s shoulder against his, Jongin’s arm slung lazily over his shoulders. Jongin’s warm smile, his crinkled eyes when he laughs, his beautiful and very tempting lips.

_Jongin. Jongin. Jongin._  


And somehow Sehun finds the courage to press his lips gently against Jongin’s own, he feels Jongin’s sharp gasp, but he presses on, he’s fallen and he might as well see if there are hands to catch him at the other end.

Kissing Jongin feels like drowning, yet at the same time, the first full breath of air after he’s finished his laps. Waiting for Jongin to kiss him back feels like hell as a million thoughts race through Sehun’s mind in a minute. He’s fucked up, he’s damn well sure that he’s fucked up this precious friendship he has with Jongin. But he can’t find it in himself to pull away.

And then Jongin kisses back, and Sehun knows that this is what heaven feels like. Sehun lets his arms drop from behind Jongin’s back, his heart jumping in accomplishment when Jongin is floating.

When they pull away, Sehun sees Jongin’s hooded eyes staring up at him, and his heart is close to bursting.

“You’re floating,” he tells Jongin with a shy smile.

Floating? Jongin thinks he could fly, the fireworks in his heart aren’t ceasing, the tingles in his lips from the kiss still send electric shocks down his spine.

Sehun lies down beside Jongin, and Jongin reaches out to link their hands together.

Jongin is scared of some things, much like any other human. But mostly he’s scared of water. Deep water like pools and the sea and aquariums. More accurately, he’s scared of drowning.

He was especially scared of drowning in Sehun and drowning in his feelings for Sehun. But now, as he lets the gentle waves of the pool water carry him, with Sehun’s fingers gently tangled in his own, he doesn’t really know what he was so scared about.  

“Thank you,” Jongin tells Sehun, looking up at the glass ceiling of the pool. He doesn’t see Sehun’s bright smile, but he definitely feels Sehun’s eyes on him, and Jongin thinks that he’s floating in euphoria.

“I told you to trust me,” Sehun tells him. Jongin laughs before he pulls Sehun underwater, shocking the swimmer with a sloppy kiss before they’re both pulled back up by Sehun, coughing and laughing.

Sehun gives Jongin a brilliant smile, brighter than a thousand suns before peppering him with kisses.

“I trust you, but do you trust me enough to be mine, Nemo?” Jongin asks.

Sehun laughs, he gives Jongin a chaste kiss on his lips. “Of course I do, my golden boy.”  


**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this months ago after seeing way too many swimmer Sehun tweets on Twitter. It's been a while since I've posted anything so I have no idea how to tag things anymore please forgive me HAHAHA. I hope you enjoyed this fic!


End file.
